Readers of John from Origen to the present have asked: Is the Lazarus of John 11-12 wholly separate from the Lazarus of Luke 16, or are they, somehow, one and the same? Whence John’s Lazarus, however, cannot be answered without also asking When, How, and Why. When was the story composed relative to the contiguous text? How is it interwoven with the rest of John? Whence came this otherwise unknown brother of Mary and Martha? Why is his story here at this turn in the Fourth Gospel? The interpretation of John’s Lazarus narrative has languished in virtual stalemate for some time. This study aims to bring new evidence to the table, to gain a fresh perspective on the composition of that story and its relationship to Luke 16, in the context of a carefully constructed array of network connections with earlier and later texts in John. Along the way, new connections revealed between Lazarus and the Temple Cleansing unexpectedly illuminate why John moved his Cleansing from Crucifixion week all the way back to join with Jesus' first miraculous sign at the wedding.

The published version of this author’s manuscript now appears in Novum Testamentum 64/2 (2022) 184-209. Along with my previous articles, "Mimesis: Foot Washing from Luke to John" (ETL 92 (2016) 655-670), "Gathered into One: Mary and Judas in John 11-13" (NovT 63 (2021) 323-345), and "In the Bosom of Abraham: The Name and Role of Poor Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31" (NovT 62 (2020) 2-24), this paper represents the culminating update of my 2011 unpublished paper "From Luke to John: Lazarus, Mary, and Martha in the Fourth Gospel". All of these appear elsewhere on this Selected Works website in their pre-publication form.